Chapter Seven: Hopscotch

Toph and her opponent were evenly matched. Katara and the other boy were also in a stalemate, but the battle has only begun a few minutes ago and the tables could change drastically. Meanwhile, Sokka and the girl haven't started yet. They've been staring at each other.

"Okay, little girl, why don't you just surrender now, before you get hurt?" Sokka asked.

"Don't call me 'little girl' - I go by the name of 'Scotch. Secondly, I know I can take you."

"Sokka rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I'll let you have the first move, just to be fair."

'Scotch smiled broadly. "Now to set up the playing field."

"Playing field?" Sokka asked, surprised.

"My nickname's 'Hopscotch' for a reason."

"Hopscotch?! You've got to be kidding me!" Sokka said in disbelief - wanting, for one, a real opponent, and secondly, not wanting to play an embarrassing kiddy game. 'Scotch pointed her hands toward the ground in front of her. A second later, flames shot up from the ground. Sokka's eyes widened in surprise. The lines of fire died down to a height of about four inches, revealing the outlines of squares.

"You go first," the girl said.

---

Zuko was sitting in the corner of the cell with his head down, when he heard something. He looked up as he listened to the sound of footsteps echoing down the hallway toward him. Zuko stood when the guard stopped in front of his cell and the teen waited expectedly for the guard to say why he had come.

"Your punishment has been decided," the guard said. Zuko looked toward the man, waiting. "You will be hung tomorrow at dawn."

"What?!" Zuko demanded. "I demand to be able to talk to my father!" Zuko yelled as he grabbed the bards of his cell.

"Heh," the man said with a smirk. "You stopped being royalty the day you were exiled," he sneered. The bars underneath Zuko's hands begun to hiss as they heated up from Zuko's grip.

"You won't get away with this. My father will have your head for sentencing his only son to death," Zuko hissed, his eyes narrowed while looking at the guard.

"You fool! Fire Lord Ozai personally decided your fate!"

"Lair!" Zuko screamed and shot a ball of fire toward the guard's head. The man easily dodged it and smirked, seeing the fury in Zuko's face. He chuckled while walking away, leaving Zuko alone again.

"Errah!" Zuko said as he slammed a large ball of fire into the thick gray wall. He breathed heavily as he started to calm down.

---

"Um... To tell you the truth, I've never learned how to play hopscotch. So... I guess we can't do this, after all," Sokka said with a smile, hoping he won't have to play.

"You'll learn fast," the girl stated. "Besides, my game has a few new twists to it, anyway," she said and smiled evilly.

"First, you go as far as possible and back. Then I have to go at least as far as you have. If I go farther, I get a point, but if I can't go as far as you, you get the point. If either of us messes up - by stepping outside a square or by using more than one foot per square... or by skipping a square - the other gets the point. Let's make this quick - first to get three points wins."

"Fine. This looks easy, anyhow. All I have to do is make it to the end, turn around, and come back, in order to keep you from gaining a point, right?"

"That's correct," 'Scotch said.

Sokka walked up to the playing field. 'Let's see... One foot per square and don't miss a square... Okay,' he thought. He grabbed his left foot with his left hand so it won't touch the ground accidentally and hopped the first two squares that way. When landing on the second square, he lost his balance and frantically waved his arms to try steadying himself. He let out a sigh of relief when he regained his balance without his other foot touching the ground. The next space had two squares side by side and Sokka used both feet for that one. He eventually got back to the starting point.

"Ha! That was just too easy!" Sokka said excitedly, a big grin on his face. "I totally rock at this game!"

'Scotch rolled her eyes. "Whatever..." she said and then hopped to the end and back herself without once losing her balance. Sokka could only stare open-mouthed at her, knowing she had finished at least twice as fast as he had.

"Lucky turn..." Sokka mumbled.

"Okay, since we each went the same distance, neither of us gets a point this round. Now, for round two, I'll go first and you second," 'Scotch said. She snapped her fingers and the field gained several extra squares - now being twice as long as it was before. One space didn't even have a square. Sokka could only watch in disbelief as 'Scotch took her turn. She hopped over the blank space and landed perfectly on the next square, then after making it to the end, a set of squares, she hopped back to the beginning just as easily.